We'll Paint the Town
by Tails Is FLUFFY
Summary: During at time of boredom, a dark and short tempered hedgehog meet a patient and mischievous plumber.
1. Walking Into A Trap

**We'll Paint the Town**

"Come on, Shads…"

"Stop calling me that!"

"I won't until you get outside…Shads."

I growled back at the insufferable pest as I went to the other side of the room. I came into this room to get some peace and quiet. Unfortunately, a certain blue pest had to come and shatter it.

Keep in mind that usually I can tolerate this faker up to a certain point but because he is the one who got me craving rest like this, I didn't even want to acknowledge his existence. The fact that I just happened to get picked to share a room with him and his fox friend didn't help.

If I had my way, I would be in my house with a nice cup of a hot liquid. Unfortunately, the world revolved around Sonic so one agreement to one request resulted in eight people being forced to play games and others were to watch. The blue thing actually tried to defend his decision, saying that it was only an experiment and it was a 'great opportunity to meet new friends.'

The only thing that kept me from killing him was the amusement of his first event. It took 25 minutes of arguing, 30 minutes to locate the blue faker in a tree, 19 minutes to coax him in the pool, 10 seconds for that turtle-dragon to lumber across the pool, and 3 minutes for Tails to stop laughing enough to go rescue Sonic from the shallow end of the pool. It was then the Mario half realized something. Sonic will not just jump in any body of water at a command. Seeing the time and the state of the hydrophobic, the referees decided to switch him and Tails with Daisy and Peach in track to calm him down. That only resulted in more problems, mainly variants of the 'How-the-hell-are-we-supposed-to-compete-with-thes e-powerful-animals?' problem. However, that's another story.

Anyways, it got to the point where even Sonic was counting down the days up to the day we started packing. His last words to us in that place were that we were never going to do this again.

Damn liar.

"Shaaaaaaadssss…" His deliberate whine made me snarl and turn around. The thing was perched on his headboard with a smirk.

"What!"

"Come with us to the town."

*"Us?"

"Yeah. Me and Tails." He gestured to our other roommate, who was sitting backwards on a chair. "He really wants you to come with us, right, Tails?"

"Yup." The fox replied but his expression showed that he probably cared as much as I did.

"See?" The ignorant hedgehog turned back to me.

"I don't care. I'm done." Sonic, of course, kept following me around the room. Tails pushed something into my hand. A note to be exact.

_Just go so he will shut up. You can lose him later._

I sighed and waited for another whine.

"Plea…"

"All right!" I snapped. "If it will shut you up, I'll go."

"Yay!" The pest threw a black jacket and scarf, mine, to me. "Let's go!" He exclaimed as he donned a dark brown jacket with a matching hat and scarf. Tails grabbed his black and neon green hoodie off the chair and we all left the room.

"I'm sorry." The half-concealed fox mumbled to me as Sonic led the way out of the building. I just scoffed and rolled my eyes. "But something tells that neither of us will be around him too long." he continued.

* * *

The cold air stunned us for a split second as we left the rooms. Sonic pulled his hat lower as we went on our way.

"This is an improvement from last time." The faker tried to make conversation. "It's more… home-like. It's also cooler."

"It's winter."

"Thank you for stating the obvious, Shadow."

"We're not staying here for Christmas, are we, Sonic?" The fox's voice had a note of fear in it.

_If that faker says yes…_

"No, Tails. We're going leave a week before."

_So the pest lives another day…_

After a few minutes, we came upon a red and white brick building.

"Nice name for a coffee shop." Tails chuckled. I looked at the sign hanging above us.

"'Random Coffee Shop'?" I read aloud. "What the…"

"I could go for some coffee right now. Anyone else?"

After an unanimous agreement, Tails told me to move out of the way so he could open the door. As a bell jingled to signal the door opening, I saw his namesakes stiffen.

"Uh-oh." The vulpine backed out as he shut the door.

"What's wrong, Tails?" Sonic cocked his head in questioning.

"I…uh…" The fox pulled at his hood. "I f-forgot something."

"Forgot what?"

"Um…let's just go." The fox sighed.

"What? Why?" Sonic went in to see what the fox was so overwrought about. My curiosity overcame me and I followed.

I instantly saw why. I started to back away but it was too late.

He saw us.


	2. Great Minds Think Alike

**Wow! It looks like I have to continue. Thanks for the support.**

**Some characters will be OOC. (Mainly the Mario ones.)**

**_In the M&S games, the thing that always irked me was that the Sonic Team's special abilities (Sonic's speed, Knuckles's power, etc.) were so weakened that it was possible to lose to things that they could have won so easily. The first thing I thought was that the Mario characters complained about the Mobians's natural talents. The officials had a sit down about this and finally made iridescent floating balls that were positioned everywhere the teams went. These balls (nicked named "Sponges") absorbed everyone's natural talents (mainly the Sonic characters') and kept the competitors some what even. However, sponges could only hold so much. To avoid the leakage, the officials allowed special moves that allowed competitors to release power._**

**_That's to clear up any confusion about the "Sponges" that pop up._**

**Chapter 2: Great Minds Think Alike**

There is always that one person that you meet in life that you just want to stay the hell away from. You know, that one soul that loves to bug you when you're sleeping or drag you to places that you don't want to go. For years, I thought Sonic was the worst as it got.

Then I met Mario. The most egocentric chatterbox I had the displeasure of meeting. That brown haired thing loved to talk about himself, his feats, and just about anything else for hours. Due to the "Sponges" (magic floating balls that absorbed our powers), I nor anyone else could hurt him or anyone else for that matter.

It didn't take very long for everyone on the Sonic Team to avoid that talkative plumber at all costs.

When I noticed him in the coffee shop, my first thought and action was to get out as fast as I could. I rather endure the blue hedgehog's whining, death hugs by his pink counter-part, anything but that obnoxious plumber. Sonic unwittingly prevented both our escapes by backing up and pinning me against the handle.

"Hi, Sonic!" The high pitched male voice cut through the suffocating brown jacket. The owner stopped struggling when he was acknowledged.

"Hi, Mario." I could tell that the faker was trying (and failing) to hold back a groan. However the overweight plumber didn't noticed because his next sentence had the same tone as his first.

"Who's that behind you?"

"Oh, them?" Sonic sidestepped to reveal me. "That's Shadow and…where did Tails go?" The faker looked behind me, thinking I had his sidekick in the same predicament he previously had me in.

"He 'forgot something', remember?" I hinted that the fox escaped. I saw the realization in the other hedgehog's eyes as he thought about my response.

"Well," Mario came up and grabbed our arms. "Come join us for a drink and when Tails comes back he can join us." I was about to object when I realized that I can't hurt this guy's feelings. All I could do was growl and glare at the hedgehog that brought me here. All I got was a nervous smile as we were dragged across the café.

"Look who I found, Luigi!" The red and blue clad person announced when we got to the table. "You guys remember Luigi, don't you?" Mario glanced our way.

"Yes…" Sonic managed to get out before the plumber continued.

"Sit down, Sit down!" I only sat down to avoid Mario's flaying arms. Sonic, however, was smacked in the head.

No apologies were made for that.

"Mario?" Luigi broke in. "Don't you think you should let them order something?"

"Please?" Sonic chimed.

"Oh, yes. Go get something." Mario started to shoo us towards the line for the counter. "We have lots to talk about."

"I hate you." I told the faker once we were in line.

"I didn't know that mustached ball would be here, alright."

"If it wasn't for your whining…"

"Look, whatever happened doesn't matter…"

"Yes, it does!" I growled.

"Whatever, we're stuck here." Sonic sighed. "Unfortunately."

"Unfortunately what?"

Would this guy ever leave us alone?

"Umm…" Sonic rocked on his heels and shifted his eyes towards me.

I wasn't going to help him get out of this.

"Unfortunately…Tails isn't here to order with us." Sonic blurted out, hoping that pathetic cover-up would work.

"I see what you mean." Mario nodded.

So it did work.

Mario continued. "I asked Princess Peach if she would have the pleasure of joining me and Luigi here but she said she had to do something with the toads. I know she would of liked that strawberry and hot chocolate drink so it was a sad lost for her and us."

"Oh." That was all Sonic said.

Mario started to talk again and I just started to drone out the high voice by looking around the café. There were a bunch of birds and pigs and guys with masks and….walking mushrooms?

Anything's possible in the Mario World, is it?

There was a robot taking orders at the counter. Mario kept talking as we waited for our orders.

"So, Shadow," Mario flicked his head towards me.

Great. My turn. Might as well get over this.

"How's life?"

The sheer stupidity of that question left my mind blank and my mouth silent.

"Do you like any of the events here?" He tried again.

"I haven't seen them all so I can't pick." I stared down the counter and wished for the drinks to come sooner.

"I like skiing the best." Mario jumped and clapped at the same time, looking like a little girl.

"One cookie and cream frappe and one dark hot chocolate!"

"That's us!" Sonic grabbed our drinks and gave the hot beverage to me. Mario then grabbed us and led us to his table again. I had a seat between the faker and the almost forgotten Luigi. I think that was the best seat because I didn't have to protect myself and my drink from the red and blue plumber's dancing arms as much.

"You got to be really careful of those flags. Those things love to trip you up and make you into a snowball. It happened to me lots of times before I got the hang of it. But skiing gives you the poles to balance on. Unlike snowboarding. Dream snowboarding can kill you…"

I started people watching in an attempt to drown that mouth. When I started getting weird stares for that, I buried my nose in my cup. I started daydreaming after the last bit of chocolate was gone. I couldn't focus on cutting off Mario's head because he was still talking.

_Oh…my gosh. Shut the hell up!_

A loud groan of exasperation escaped my throat, causing everyone else at the table to flick their gaze at me.

"Do you need some water, Shadow?" Luigi hadn't said a word ever since we got back from the counter so his voice slightly cracked. By the green plumber's expression I could tell he was covering up my outburst of frustration. Thinking quickly, I coughed for a few seconds before answering.

"I…ahem…don't want to spend anymore money."

"You don't have to." Luigi faced his older brother. "I'm going to take Shadow to the water fountains in the back." Mario nodded and went back to the mostly one-sided conversation with the faker. Luigi got up and beckoned me to follow. In my haste, I almost knocked my chair over. I didn't look back as Luigi led the way behind the wall.

"Hurry up." The taller plumber turned his head towards me. I sighed and quickened my pace.

We reached the water fountain too soon for my taste. For some reason the sight of the water machines made me thirsty so I grabbed a slow drink.

"I know the sponges mostly affect you guys but still…"

I raised my head. "What are you talking about?"

"It seems like you're not as fast as I thought." Luigi smirked.

Oh hell no…

I felt the pull of the sponges as I swiped at him. He dodged it easily.

"I am fast." I snarled.

"Oh?" Mock surprise came upon his face, making me seethe with rage. "Well, it doesn't seem like it."

"I'm in no hurry to go listen to your annoying brother."

"You're not in a hurry to escape either." Luigi started to walk away…in the opposite direction from the table.

"What?" That was all I said before I followed him. We went behind another wall and found ourselves face-to-face with a narrow door. Luigi zipped up his green and white jacket before opening it.

"Let's go."


End file.
